QPlay: India Rob Bangladesh, Dhoni Praises Pandya, Snaps at Journo

All the latest sports news in The Quint’s morning wrap.

1. India Beat Bangladesh by One Run

India survived a big scare before pulling off an incredible 1-run victory over Bangladesh in a nerve-wracking low-scoring thriller to keep their semi- final hopes alive in the ICC World T20, here tonight.

Defending a modest 146, India looked down and out for the better part of the match before pulling their acts together in the final two overs to restrict Bangladesh to 145 for 9.

It was a piece of inspirational act by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who took his right gloves off when Hardik Pandya came in to bowl the last delivery with two runs required.Pandya bowled a fuller delivery wide off Shuvagata Hom who missed it and Dhoni caught it with only his inners on.

As Mustafizur started sprinting from the other end, the 34 plus Indian skipper beat his younger opponent in a short sprint to whip off the bails and guide the team to a one run victory.

2. Told Hardik Specifically Not to Try Yorker: Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was all praise for young Hardik Pandya, who held his nerve during the last few moments and executed the instructions brilliantly by not bowling a yorker to Shuvagata Hom, which could have turned into a full-toss.

There were quite a few stuff we were discussing, one thing was for sure, we did not want him (Hardik) to bowl a yorker. It had to be a back of a length, but how back of a length, that was the question. You don’t want to bowl a wide. We were deciding out field and I think he executed really well. It’s nice to have good plans but the plan only looks good when it is executed well.

MS Dhoni

Dhoni also praised Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled an unbelievable 19th over.

“Bumrah bowled really well, the second over that he bowled, he was under pressure, with the field restrictions. It was a reflection of his misfield and the dropped catch, but he had to forget about what happened and that’s what we told. I feel he is somebody who is very good with the yorkers and he did very well. There were two occasions when we had to make the game and instead of using our part-timers and we bowled our frontliners. It was a very good bowling effort.”

3. World T20 Semifinal to go Ahead in Delhi, DDCA Gets Clearance

Ending days of speculation, Delhi finally got the go ahead to host the World Twenty20 semifinal as scheduled on March 30 after the embattled DDCA got the requisite clearances to use the contentious R P Mehra Block at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium.

The match had been thrown into jeopardy over lack of completion certificate for the block from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The DDCA stands have been cleared till 2017. Not only this match but all the IPL matches will go ahead as planned. Decks were cleared after Justice Mudgal was convinced that there would no legal problem in holding the matches.

Ravinder Manchanda, DDCA Treasurer

4. PCB to Probe if Groupism was Responsible for WT20 Loss

The fact finding committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is probing the National team’s poor show in the Asia Cup, has also been tasked to find out whether there is any groupism in the side or if any player has under-performed during the World T20.

According to a highly-placed source in the PCB, the committee will talk to captain Shahid Afridi, head coach, Waqar Younis, manager Intikhab Alam and some players in the World T20 squad when the team returns home from India.

The committee will also talk to the other members of the support staff including the security manager, assistant coach and batting coach Grant Flower.

Source

5. Toughest Test Awaits Indian Football Team in Iran

Indian football team will face its toughest test in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers when it takes on Asia’s highest ranked side Iran, sans influential striker Sunil Chhetri, at their own backyard today.

160th-ranked India were dealt a body blow when Chhetri, the country’s highest scorer in international football, was ruled out with a groin injury just before the team boarded the flight to Tehran.

In Chhetri’s absence, the mantle of leading the side has fallen on the young shoulders of Jeje Lalpekhlua. The Indians, whose campaign have been nothing short of a disaster, are currently placed last in their group and will have one home match against Turkmenistan on March 29 left after the Iran game.